Chapter 23

Log. 4001.g

It goes without saying I lost some physical drives, but it was worth it. I managed to perfectly restore memories from some of the AIs, but was unable to make an antidote for the virus. Me and the Programmer have been working on this non-stop, although I feel a bit bad for the lives we created.

It seemed like they had spent days inside that bunker. Misha had no strength on her legs, and it was Gayo who kneeled beside her and pulled her to his arms. That had been a horrible night, and it seemed nowhere close to an end. At least Misha hoped the Forest People would believe the Immortal was responsible for all that.

— Guys… — Séra spoke, as she helped a confused Ganen stand up. — I think we should look for a way out.

— Yes. — Misha cleaned her face. — You’re right, we need to leave, and we need to do it now. — She sniffed and got up with her brother. — The Immortal came in somehow, and got stuck in that room. Maybe we can go out the same way.

— The only problem is getting into that bloody room. — Resha replied.

“I’ll try the hatch”, Gayo signalled. He climbed the stairs with a lump in his throat, it had to be open, but he couldn’t be sure. The Immortal had closed it with its mind or something, and now it was dead. Maybe they were stuck in there forever.

When he reached the hatch and failed to open it, he was sure his theory was true. They were stuck. He went down with a sad, angry face; he didn’t have to say a word for all the others to know their situation.

— Okay, then. — Misha was still shaking, but she was the matriarch and had to do something. — We must find a way out.

“I’ll try the bloody room.” Gayo signalled. “Resha, wanna join me? Not that I’m afraid of blood or anything, just…”

— Yeah, I’ll go with you. We can see if the hole leads anywhere.

— Right. Then me and the girls will look for a way out from here. — Misha looked at Ganen and Séra, who agreed, then she held her brother’s shoulders, and gave him a tight hug. — Be careful.

Gayo nodded, and the group started looking around as the place was being half-lit by their lanterns. Ganen pointed at the wall of rations, she wanted to check those out, the Farmers couldn't possibly eat all that alone, and Misha said they could keep as much as they wanted. There was the question if any of that was still edible, after all no one knew how long those had been in there for.

Misha followed them to the wall, and Séra saw a broken door a little to the left; she asked Ganen to check the food and Misha to look for bags or boxes, anything they could carry the food in, while she looked beyond the door.

Once her light lit the room, Séra’s eyes widened: there were two skeletons inside human-like mechanical things. Anxious, she stayed as still as possible, waiting for a response from the machines. After a few anxious seconds of nothingness, she took a deep breath and walked in.

Será poked one of the machines with her foot, ready to run away and shut the door. The metallic parts didn't move, and the woman was able to breathe again. Then she changed her focus to the human skeleton. The ribs were broken, the pieces rested inside what was left of the ribcage.

She crouched and moved it around; the metal parts were somehow screwed into the bones, and the only thing she could imagine was how much that would hurt. The other skeleton was in a similar condition, and upon closer inspection, there were tiny punctures on its surface. She wondered if that was the work of the Immortal, ages ago.

Their bony hands were grabbing long metal tubes, with something like a switch near their fingers, and small metal cases on the floor. She cleaned the dust off of one, and took it to Ganen, who was opening one of the food bricks.

— Whatcha think it is? — Séra asked.

—Uhm… since you found near some tubes, maybe they were projectiles? Like, with needles on the top and humans blew the tubes, like a blowpipe? But, I mean, it's kinda heavy. — She started to mumble about weird ideas people from her study group were used to having. — Maybe humans from the past had a larger lung capacity?

— What? — Séra didn't follow. The explosion might have made her confused. Maybe both of them.

— Oh, nothing really, just theories to distract me. I just don’t want to think about… you know.

— That sounds like a good idea. Maybe I should try to get some theories myself. — Séra smiled as Ganen returned the small case.

On the other side, Gayo and Resha were covering their mouths and noses to get inside the room the Immortal once was. It stank of blood and rotting meat, and it was worse than before.

Resha flashed their lantern over the hole where the machine had been stuck, and it didn’t look very safe. They also couldn’t see the end of it, and no one could tell if the tunnel was still open on the surface. Gayo poked them, and signalled “I’ll get down there, walk a bit, see what I can find. I’m smaller than you so…”

Resha nodded, and offered him the lantern; the light was hurting their eyes anyway, so it was a relief. They told him not to go too far and come back soon, to which he agreed; there was no need to lose anyone else.

The hole turned itself into a long dark tunnel, with no other corridors or openings in different directions. The Immortal had come in an almost straight line. Gayo walked slowly, he had to be careful so that the earth wouldn’t swallow him whole; he didn’t want his sister to lose anyone else. Besides, he was still a bit confused from the explosion.

However, after he walked for a while, he hit a wall. That part of the tunnel had collapsed who knew how long ago, and unless they knew in which direction to dig, they would all die in there. “At least we would be already buried”, he thought. There was a terrible joke.

He turned around and started walking back, at least the Immortal was large, so Gayo didn’t have to crawl on the ground. His witty mood, though, vanished once he saw Resha’s face. There was so much hope in their eyes, and he was about to snuff it.

He shook his head as he climbed out, and Resha sighed; at least they wouldn’t have to waste any other second in that place. Both left and decided to explore more. They saw the girls with two bags of rations each, and offered to help.

— Actually, I think it’s easier if we leave them somewhere while we look for a way out. — Ganen proposed. — They’re quite heavy.

— Fair enough. — Misha agreed, as she let her bags fall to the floor. — When we got in, the Forest People were over there, maybe there’s a way out or buttons to open the hatch, I don’t know.

— Let’s check it. — Resha said, and started walking. Anywhere was better then so close to the bodies.

It was good to keep their minds busy, at least they could deal with one problem at a time. The group followed Resha with their lanterns and started looking for anything that could be a door. There were some closets and tiny storage rooms, with a lot of strange things.

More of those long metal tubes and cases, black boxes in weird shapes, and cables. There were so many cables, and Ganen opened a large smile. Perhaps there were some she could use to check those memory blocks they had found in the desert. She had been so worried about her own survival, she had almost forgotten about those.

Ganen started putting them in her pockets, along with anything that looked like the memory blocks she knew; she had no idea what information could be in those, but she wanted to know. Maybe there was a way to defeat the Immortals more easily, afterall, people always said the Machines allowed the Moon to swallow the Sun, so there had to be something in there.

Séra was more interested in the tools she found, some of them even looked new, and it was good to have spares. She wished there was some brake fluid as well, but she found nothing remotely similar to that.

And it was Resha who found a weird panel full of switches and buttons. They brought the lantern closer and tried to read the words, but many were unknown — or incomplete. “Worst case scenario, we die, which is what will happen if we can’t find a way out”, they thought before pushing a switch.

Nothing happened.

They pushed another, and all the lights were turned on.

Misha screamed, ready to grab her brother and hide, Séra pushed Ganen into the tiny room and was about to close the door, then Resha laughed.

— I found the lights.

— Resha?? Fuck you! You almost gave me a heart attack! — Misha punched their shoulder, and Resha smiled.

— Maybe if I keep pushing these, one of them will open the door. I just have no idea what’s written.

— Can I check? — Ganen asked, relieved it was Resha. — Not that I understand any of it, but maybe I could help you make sense of the words.

— Be my guest. — The farmer stepped to the side.

Ganen, followed by Séra, looked at the panel confused, and it was the mechanic who recognised some of the codes: the vowels were missing, but if one had some idea of what the words were supposed to mean, it wasn’t that difficult to understand them. Koira had taught her many things from the past, and they didn’t feel as useless now.

— I think the ones on this block might open something. — She pointed to the ones in the lower right, and Resha started pushing them.

At first, nothing happened. Then, after a few seconds, a loud, heavy hiss froze their bodies. A deep thud echoed, and metal started sliding against metal. Resha and Séra traded a look, and the woman left to see what was happening. She was ready to scream, and Resha was ready to undo what she had done.

Séra flashed her light to the bunker, her eyes peeled, looking for any sign of movement. She couldn’t find anything different.

— Resha, do it again. — she asked.

She squinted her eyes, trying to focus better at the unknown. The hiss startled them again, but this time, Séra followed the sound. And she saw a small part of the wall sliding shut.

— OH MY SUN! We found it!! Resha, ya found it! I think we found a way out! — Séra came running back, as excited as she could be. — Push it again, it opens a door!

— A door? — Misha asked. — I thought we had tried all of them.

— A secret door! Let’s check where it goes, than we come back and get the food.

They looked at one another; there was no other choice.

Log. 3786.v.c

It all took twenty-one days. Exactly two days after the last memory was deleted, the virus changed. It was as if it had mutated and become something new. It was from that point on the programmer said we shouldn’t consider the AI alive any more. And this happened again and again, with the AIs we created.

Qena finally called Koira over the comms. She asked if she could go to her house and talk, to which the older woman agreed; Koira had been meaning to talk to her as well, but the girl never answered.

She decided to make some coffee and try to tidy up her place; there were bits and pieces everywhere from her ideas, and since she was quite sure Tovu would accept the prosthetics, she wanted to improve the design.

After the talk with Luqa, Tovu asked to check the prosthetics again, and he even fit one on his left arm. Koira helped him attach it — it was a prototype, and it didn’t have the nerve endings — and move it, and he couldn’t even hide how good it felt. He rested both arms on his legs and whispered it was comforting.

He hadn’t given her a proper answer yet, but she was sure it would be a yes, and since he had sort of tested the arm, she wanted to make some adjustments. She had spent the last few days working on it, so her house was chaotic.

The water started boiling as she ran back to the kitchen to turn off the fire. She put the coffee powder into a press and slowly poured water over it. Koira pressed it more quickly than usual, so that she could have a chance to at least move all her mess to a corner, but Qena was faster. She had long legs.

Qena’s hair was a bright red fiery aura around her face. She was more beautiful than ever. Koira was baffled for a second, she blinked a few times before being able to speak.

— I’ve made some coffee. Come in. — She stepped to the side.

— That’s nice.

Qena walked in followed by Koira, and noticed the house was the same as always. She had felt lost when she first started visiting the woman, but it never changed, so she got used to the coffee-perfumed mess. She sat on a chair in the kitchen and crossed her legs.

— So… — Koira showed up with two hot cups. — How ya doin'?

— Okay, I guess. — She shrugged.

— What do ya wanna talk about? — Maybe it was better if she started; it could give Koira some clues on how to say what she needed.

— About the other day… at the party. — She paused. — You left with Ana.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

— Yah, I was rather drunk. And I didn't want to spoil your party.

— Our party. — Qena was angry. — You and I did it together! It was supposed to be for us. But you spent all your time with her.

— We were talking about mechanics and something to mass produce the…

— At the party, yes. But then you left together! And Masin said Ana didn’t sleep in her house. — Qena was hurt, she felt cheated on, left behind. Replaced.

— She slept here, because I couldn't fit the key through the hole, and she didn't want me to sleep with the house open. — One thing was leading to another, and it made her certain she had kept that going on for too long.

— Did you sleep with Ana? — Qena was blunt.

— What?! No! She even slept on the sofa! — She was replied with silence, which seemed to last forever. — Qena, but what if I had? I mean, ya and I are just friends.

— Are we? Just friends, nothing else?

— Yah, I mean… as far as I know. — Koira felt like if she had to defend herself, even though she had done nothing wrong.

— I thought we were something more. You never stopped me, you blushed and I see how you look at me.

— I thought ya were joking at first. — Koira took a deep breath. — And when ya stopped hinting at it, and got more direct, I was… a bit confused about, uhm, how I felt.

— What about now? — There was a sudden bean of hope in her eyes.

— Now I think I understand better. Ya don't want someone to fool around with, right? Ya want a girlfriend.

— Well, that was a shameful read. — Qena mumbled; she had been denying that for a while, but it was impossible now. Apparently, even Koira could see it.

— The thing is… I love ya and all, you're my best friend. — Koira paused, she was afraid of being insensitive.

— There's a but.

— There is. I don't want a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend, for that matter. It's just… I prefer doing other things, I can focus better, and I think it would affect my job.

— Oh. — Qena looked at her own feet. She was so embarrassed. Of course Koira didn't want a boyfriend. At the same time, she felt diminished, less important than a job, put aside, a hobby for the “free time”. — Really? I guess I got it quite wrong, then.

— Look, I… uhm, a relationship is… pretty much like a friendship. With, how can I say it, some… benefits? And without changing your priorities, because you're just friends.

— Oh, so you're only interested in the sex, no responsibility. — Qena rolled her eyes, disappointed, angry.

— That's not what I said. And I might sound selfish, but I don't want to change my routine, my hobbies, the things I like, the things I hide…

— And you think this will happen.

— I know it will. It's always like this. I heard so many stories over the years, I’ve never felt even curious about it. It sounds like too much work. — Koira wasn't looking at her. She couldn't. The woman was well aware she was hurting Qena.

— I see. — There was something on Koira's voice when her opinion was written in stone. Qena knew it quite well. She got up, and adjusted her dress. — I guess I'll go now. Thanks for the coffee. — She left the mug on the kitchen table, and started walking away.

— Qena, wait… — Koira got up, ready to follow her.

— Koira, don’t. I need to think. I'm not used to being in this position. I need some time, I hope you understand.

Koira opened her mouth, but no words came out. She watched Qena walk away, leave her house, and close the door. She wanted to run and hug her, apologise for hurting her so much, but her legs were too afraid to move. What if that made herself be misunderstood yet again?

She fell on the chair, no idea of what to do, face hidden in her hands.

— How could I have been so stupid?! — She scolded herself.

Log. 3786.v.b

In about two days, the first one caught the virus, so I monitored them closely. First, the virus scanned and selected all the sad memories, then it erased them one by one. The most neutral disappeared not long after that, and finally the happy memories (which, by this point, were already rather incomplete). The memory loss is gradual, so it goes almost unnoticed, especially if one doesn’t have a person to ask them about the past, for example.

Séra waited in front of the secret door as Resha pushed the button again. The door cried, rust against rust, and soon it slid to the side. Uninviting darkness filled the crevice, and the woman swallowed hard. She needed courage to go in there.

Her light fought the old shadows for a moment, before they retreated, ready to engulf the corridor once again at the first opportunity. Séra called the others, she couldn’t muster the courage to go in alone, and relief filled her body as Ganen held her hand.

— I think some of us should go and check where it leads. — Misha said, as she looked into the darkness. — So that, if something happens, we won’t all die. Sorry if I’m being too blunt, but…

— I understand. — Resha said, and the others nodded. — I can go, if someone tags along.

The other four exchanged a look, Misha was the matriarch, Ganen’s arm was hurt, Gayo was deaf, and Séra quickly understood she was the best option. It was dark, and communicating by signals would be complicated.

— Okay, let’s go. — Séra didn’t want to go.

— Wait, shouldn’t we get something to prevent you guys from getting lost? We don’t know if the corridor is straight up or if there are other paths and such. — Ganen was worried, she didn’t want to leave Séra alone, but she knew she would be a hindrance if they had to fight.

— Like? — Misha asked.

— A thread, for example. — She remembered a story from a long lost past, about a guy who used thread to avoid getting lost in a labyrinth. — How much cable is there in the explosives room?

— That’s smart, Ganen. — Resha was surprised. — I’d never think about it. I generally just power through stuff! — They laughed a bit.

— I’ll go get the remaining cables, then we can sort it in a way to help us. — Séra felt calmer knowing Ganen wouldn’t let them get lost. All she wanted was to go back to the surface with her lover, both safe and sound.

There were metres and more metres of cable, and soon one end was tied to a heavy table by the door, and the other was in Resha’s hand. They asked if Séra was ready — she wasn’t, but agreed anyway — and both walked into the darkness.

A few metres in, their eyes started to get used to the anaemic light. The problem, though, was that light brought shadows along. Arms of darkness danced around them, threatening, terrorising. So when Séra felt Resha’s warm fingers touching hers in fear, she held them tight. It was easier that way.

Séra looked back, even though she couldn’t see the entrance anymore. There had been a curve near the beginning, so they lost contact pretty fast. She tried not looking around much, if there were skeletons in the other rooms, she was certain there would be at least one in that corridor.

Resha seemed to share her opinion; they looked ahead and nowhere else. Both were walking slow enough to prevent most falls, and the floor wasn’t as irregular as they expected. The walls, however, didn’t take long to become as irregular as a cave.

— Did you see that? — Resha pressed her hand. — I’m sure that was not a shadow.

— It ain’t moving now that we stopped, eh? — It was hopeful thinking.

They stared at the shadows for what seemed like hours, days. The people didn’t move, they barely breathed. The shadow stood, as still as the lantern on the floor. Both took such a long breath, Séra had to hold her knees for a moment.

— Holy shit, I wanna punch it. — She joked, and instantly regretted it. Her laugh soon turned into an embarrassed smile, but Resha didn’t notice.

— Right?! I so wanna punch it, that made so scared, fuck.

Resha took the initiative — and the lantern — and walked to whatever had them shaking at their knees. Séra walked a bit behind them, her wrench in hands, ready for the unwanted worst.

— It’s just a broken skeleton. — Resha was relieved.

— Yah, but… what broke it?

— Let’s not think about it.

They pulled the cable a little more and kept moving; Séra, however, stayed there, looking at those empty eyes, that everlasting smile of death, and the ribs, each one of them broken, nothing but shards. She couldn’t help but think that was quite similar to the one she had found behind the ration wall.

She turned around and rushed to Resha’s side. They smiled and offered their hand again, which Séra didn’t hesitate to hold.

Ganen felt a tug on the cable, and helped it unfold itself. It was difficult even trying to keep calm with Misha by her side. The woman had put too much on her shoulders, and she also carried the guilt of all the blood on the floor.

The researcher sighed; even her breath was shaking. Ganen kept looking at the knot on the leg of the table, from time to time she checked if it was still tight, or if there was enough cable. She thought of asking Misha if they should go find some more, just in case, but the woman wasn’t there. Neither was her brother.

Ganen started to look for her, her eyes darted in every direction, until she saw Gayo pointing his crossbow at something ahead. She froze as her heart started racing. If the Immortal was back, then they were all… Then Gayo lowered the crossbow, took a good look at it, and decided to set it on a table to adjust it. Ganen almost melted to the floor. Angry, she decided to check the knot once more; they’d scream if they needed her.

Ahead of Gayo, Misha was kneeling on the floor, looking for something from Finnian and Nika she could bring back to Soña. A ring, a handkerchief, anything to remember them by. Tears blurred her eyes, she had given up on hiding them.

Gayo offered help, his knees were about to follow hers when she stopped him, her hands expressing the pain in her heart: “I have to do this alone.”

When their parents died, she acted just the same. He tried to say she wasn’t responsible for any of it, but Misha wouldn’t look at him. Afraid of making it worse, he gave her some space. He remembered how one of the shots felt wrong during the fight, and decided there was no better time to fix it.

He noticed Ganen staring, so he pointed at her, put his thumbs up, and shrugged his shoulders in a question. She nodded slowly, not sure if that was the correct answer, then pointed at him. Thumbs up again. If she wasn’t so nervous, if they weren’t locked, swallowed by the earth itself, if Séra wasn’t lost in the darkness, maybe then things would be okay.

Log. 3786.v.a

I must admit it was easier than I’d thought. My childhood friend, he’s an amazing programmer — better not save his name — and he helped me with my project. We created Artificial Intelligences, set up documents and personal info, put it all in the Cloud, made back-ups and supervised it non-stop.

Koira was disappointed in herself. She knew she had to tell Qena, but the last thing she had ever wanted was hurting the girl. And once again Qena had vanished from her life for weeks. At night, she kept laying awake, waiting for someone to knock on her door and walk in exasperated, needing to talk about some crazy stuff. Koira missed that.

However... she didn't want the same thing as Qena. She felt selfish, asked herself how she could not settle for a relationship and call it even. And in the same tone, she would answer it wasn't worthwhile doing something half-assed. Although that didn't quiet her mind every time.

She thought of talking to Ana about it, but Koira didn't want to bother her with such things. The problem was, she had no one else to talk to about the situation. There was Tovu, but even the idea made her laugh; it sounded so ridiculous!

She was forced to stay quiet, arguing with herself over whether or not she had made the right decision. Until she couldn't handle it anymore.

So there she was, standing in front of Qena's door, hoping all the time they didn't talk had been enough for the woman to think. She took a deep breath, and her hand stopped a few centimetres from the door. She didn’t want to lose Qena, she was ready to fight for that friendship. So she knocked on the door.

A person who worked in the house, Thany, opened the door for Koira and was surprised to see her. “Normally it’s the other way around!” Thany laughed, as Koira walked in. She said Qena was in her room, and asked if the woman needed any help to get there — it was a big house.

Koira thanked Thany, and both walked there in silence. The inventor was nervous, she didn’t know what to say, she hadn’t rehearsed this time, and no words came to her mind. It was a situation she couldn’t fix by changing a piece or adjusting the pressure.

— Qena? Are you awake? — Thany knocked the door.

— Yes, why? — Qena answered. She sounded quite bored.

— Koira is here to see you.

— I don’t want to see her.

Thany looked at Koira with a worried face; she didn’t like insisting.

— Oi, come on, let’s talk. — Koira got closer to the door and asked. — I don’t wanna lose ya.

There was a long silence before some noise pointed to Qena getting up and walking to the door. She wore no makeup, her hair was tied with a black head band, and her robe was almost falling from one of her shoulders. She was beautiful as always.

— Fine. — Then she turned to Thany: — Thank you for opening the door.

Thany waved her hand, it was but her job, and left them alone; whatever drama was about to happen, she didn’t want to be a part of it.

— So, what do you want? — Qena asked. She wasn’t in the mood to be polite. Not that she was angry with Koira, she was simply… sad.

— I wanted to talk. I still want to be friends with ya, I wanna have ya in my life. It’s sorta boring without ya. — Koira waited for a answer, but she got none. — Well, I also don’t wanna hurt ya any more, so if ya don’t want me in your life, I won’t bother ya again.

— Come in. — Qena said, after a long sigh. She gave Koira space to walk into her room, closed the door, and sat on the bed. — So?

— Ah, well, I don’t know. — Koira looked around and sat at the desk. — Something I said bothered ya more than the rest. What was it?

— You said you didn’t want a boyfriend.

—Nor a girlfriend. — Koira was still confused. — Is that what bothered ya?

— Yeah. I mean, I didn’t know you knew. Not that I hide it or anything, but…

— I have no idea what you’re talking about. — And Qena noticed her confusion was genuine.

— Oh. Hang on. — Qena opened her closet and got a thick book from it. She put it on the desk and opened it. There was a picture of her family, her mother and father, and what looked like a little boy. She pointed at the child: — This is me.

— I had no idea! I… When I said I didn’t want a boyfriend, or girlfriend, I meant I didn’t want any of them, not that I didn’t want ya because ya were a boy. I mean, ya ain’t a boy! Gosh, I’m making things even worse, ain’t I?

— A bit. — Qena chuckled. — But I forgive your ignorance this time. My parents noticed I liked “girl stuff” more, and we had a talk, then I started the mods when I got a bit older. — She flipped some of the pages and showed herself as a teen; she had a round, chubby face, and a large smile. — So… it’s not like you don’t like me because of the body modifications, but…?

— Yah, I couldn’t care less about those, I just don’t want a serious lovey-dovey emotional thing, but I would love to keep being friends with ya. And, I mean, if ya want, I suppose we could try something, but I don’t wanna be, how can I say this…

— Responsible for me?

— Something like this. — Koira was still looking at the pictures. It was crazy how someone could have so many photos when she was almost killed because of one. — I wish I had pictures of me and Séra as children. She was a cute kid too, just like ya.

— Don’t change the subject. — Qena complained, though she was a bit happy with Koira’s compliment. — What do you mean by “try something”?

— Ah, well, I mean… — Koira’s face got red. — Ya know, ya kept teasing me so for long. I must admit I got curious ‘bout what it feels like.

— Oh gosh! — Qena couldn’t help but laugh. She was glad it had been a misunderstanding. — I suppose once I’m feeling better, if we’re still up for it! I mean, my body may be a bit different from what you expect.

— I don’t mind. — Koira shrugged, still embarrassed. — I mean, I never did anything with anyone, so I don’t really expect nothing.

— So, you don’t mind I’m different?

— Not at all, why would I? If I did, I think I’d be the wrong one. — Koira looked at Qena for a brief moment, then looked back at the pictures. — Everybody changes as they grow. All ya did was add some features that didn’t come with the original piece, which is what I do all the time. Why would it be wrong? I think it’s cool.

— That’s a cool way of seeing it. — Qena smiled; it was like a weight lifted from her shoulders. — Wanna see the rest of the photos?

— Yah, tell me your stories, and maybe I can learn how to draw and tell ya all of mine. — Koira was so relieved, she had her friend again and maybe things would go back to normal soon.

— I suppose I can imagine the pictures, if you described them well enough.

They spent the afternoon going through Qena’s photographs, and it was such a nice time. Koira was happy they managed to repair their relationship, which gave her hope they could fix any future bumps on the road.